{"id":344659,"date":"2017-05-12T12:04:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T18:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=344659"},"modified":"2017-05-17T08:06:37","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T14:06:37","slug":"its-on-all-of-us-to-fight-this-nonsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/05\/its-on-all-of-us-to-fight-this-nonsense\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s on all of us to fight this nonsense"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>This increasing trend toward disregard of the public by government officials is dangerous.<\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

The most glaring example right now is President Donald Trump, who continually rejects legitimate concerns<\/a> about his business dealings and other ethical questions<\/a>, and who thinks there\u2019s no problem with firing the FBI director<\/a> in the middle of an FBI investigation into ties between people close to Trump and Russia.<\/p>\n

That level of disregard for public perception, and for laws intended to ensure government officials are serving the public, creates an appearance that Trump isn\u2019t acting in the public\u2019s interest. It reduces confidence and participation in government. At worst, Trump\u2019s actions point to something much more sinister.<\/p>\n

There are bad examples at all levels of government.<\/p>\n

Gov. Susana Martinez has at times shown a stunning disregard for how her actions affect people. She moved chaotically in 2013 to freeze Medicaid funding for 15 behavioral health organizations and spark investigations into possible fraud. By the time all were cleared of wrongdoing, she had crippled a system on which many fragile New Mexicans depend. Her actions hurt people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martinez is doing it again with her veto of all higher education funding. She\u2019s using college students and employees as a weapon in a high-stakes political fight with the Legislature. The standoff is harming<\/a> our universities and the people they serve.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners. In spite of receiving campaign donations from a business that would benefit, three commissioners recently voted to allow additional fireworks sales<\/a> instead of recusing themselves. Four commissioners voted to fire the county manager<\/a> without explaining their votes. Then this week, the commission opted to not approve<\/a> funding for a regional bus system. Commissioners didn\u2019t allow input from the dozens of people in attendance or explain that decision.<\/p>\n

That elicited shouts of \u201cshame\u201d from the audience. People were told to hold their comments until that agenda item and then weren\u2019t allowed to comment.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of that meeting, Commission Chair Isabella Solis asked for respect. If public officials want the respect and trust of the public, they have treat the public with respect and trust.<\/p>\n

Which Trump, among others, isn\u2019t doing. The president implemented his February travel ban on certain non-citizens so recklessly<\/a> that he stranded people and separated families. His actions spread fear and caused chaos.<\/p>\n

Public trust of our systems \u2013 government, journalism and others \u2013 is eroding. Our nation is becoming increasingly oligarchical<\/a> as the wealthy grab greater control in ways that include spending big to influence elections<\/a> and dramatically reducing the number of journalists<\/a> helping inform the public.<\/p>\n

As people feel increasingly disenfranchised, many check out, and things worsen. Those who spend dark money can manage elections and systems with precision for their own benefit.<\/p>\n

Our systems \u2013 including ethics laws, journalism, and rules that allow public participation \u2013 are our checks on abuse of power, imperfect though they may be. We can\u2019t give up on those systems. We can\u2019t give up on making our voices heard.<\/p>\n

Maybe these officials want to be better. Hopefully they\u2019ll improve.<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe this disregard for the public is intentional. If government officials won\u2019t demonstrate that they\u2019re acting in the public\u2019s interest, we should assume they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s on all of us to fight this nonsense. Show up, call, email, speak. We deserve, and we need, government that acts in the public\u2019s interest. If we can\u2019t get there, I fear what\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a> is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher. Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If government officials won\u2019t demonstrate that they\u2019re acting in the public\u2019s interest, we should assume they\u2019re not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[115,3307,109,208,706],"class_list":["post-344659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-dona-ana-county","tag-donald-trump","tag-ethics-reform","tag-susana-martinez","tag-transparency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}